II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1475

To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to

provide incentive grants to improve the quality of child care.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 3, 1999

Mr. REED (for himself, Mr. DODD, Mr. KENNEDY, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr.

INOUYE, and Mrs. MURRAY) introduced the following bill; which was read

twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and

Pensions

A BILL

To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant

Act of 1990 to provide incentive grants to improve the

quality of child care.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Care Quality

5 Incentive Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings:
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1 (1) Recent research on early brain development

2 reveals that much of a child’s growth is determined

3 by early learning and nurturing care. Research also

4 shows that quality early care and education leads to

5 increased cognitive abilities, positive classroom learn6 ing behavior, increased likelihood of long-term school

7 success, and greater likelihood of long-term economic

8 and social self-sufficiency.

9 (2) Each day an estimated 13,000,000 children,

10 including 6,000,000 infants and toddlers, spend

11 some part of their day in child care. However, a

12 study in 4 States found that only 1 in 7 child care

13 centers provide care that promotes healthy develop14 ment, while 1 in 8 child care centers provide care

15 that threatens the safety and health of children.

16 (3) Full-day child care can cost $4,000 to

17 $10,000 per year.

18 (4) Although Federal assistance is available for

19 child care, funding is severely limited. Even with

20 Federal subsidies, many families cannot afford child

21 care. For families with young children and a month22 ly income under $1,200, the cost of child care typi23 cally consumes 25 percent of their income.

24 (5) Payment (or reimbursement) rates, the

25 maximum the State will reimburse a child care pro-
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1 vider for the care of a child who receives a subsidy,

2 are too low to ensure that quality care is accessible

3 to all families.

4 (6) Low payment rates directly affect the kind

5 of care children get and whether families can find

6 quality child care in their communities. In many in7 stances, low payment rates force child care providers

8 to cut corners in ways that lower the quality of care

9 for children, including reducing number of staff,

10 eliminating staff training opportunities, and cutting

11 enriching educational activities and services.

12 (7) Children in low quality child care are more

13 likely to have delayed reading and language skills,

14 and display more aggression toward other children

15 and adults.

16 (8) Increased payment rates lead to higher

17 quality child care as child care providers are able to

18 attract and retain qualified staff, provide salary in19 creases and professional training, maintain a safe

20 and healthy environment, and purchase basic sup21 plies and developmentally appropriate educational

22 materials.

23 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to improve

24 the quality of, and access to, child care by increasing child

25 care payment rates.
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1 SEC. 3. INCENTIVE GRANTS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF

2 CHILD CARE.

3 (a) FUNDING.—Section 658B of the Child Care and

4 Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858)

5 is amended—

6 (1) by striking ‘‘There’’ and inserting the fol7 lowing:

8 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

9 There’’; and

10 (2) by adding at the end the following:

11 ‘‘(b) APPROPRIATION OF FUNDS FOR GRANTS TO IM12 PROVE THE QUALITY OF CHILD CARE.—Out of any funds

13 in the Treasury that are not otherwise appropriated, there

14 are authorized to be appropriated and there are appro15 priated, for each of fiscal years 2000 through 2004,

16 $300,000,000 for the purpose of making grants under sec17 tion 658H.’’.

18 (b) GRANTS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF CHILD

19 CARE.—The Child Care and Development Block Grant

20 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et seq.) is amended by in21 serting after section 658G the following:

22 ‘‘SEC. 658H. GRANTS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF CHILD

23 CARE.

24 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—

25 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall use the

26 amount appropriated under section 658B(b) for a
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1 fiscal year to make grants to eligible States in ac2 cordance with this section.

3 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL PAYMENTS.—The Secretary shall

4 make annual payments to each eligible State out of

5 the allotment for that State determined under sub6 section (c).

7 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE STATES.—

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In this section, the term

9 ‘eligible States’ means a State that—

10 ‘‘(A) has conducted a survey of the market

11 rates for child care services in the State within

12 the 2 years preceding the date of the submis13 sion of an application under paragraph (2); and

14 ‘‘(B) submits an application in accordance

15 with paragraph (2).

16 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.—

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to re18 ceive a grant under this section, a State shall

19 submit an application to the Secretary at such

20 time, in such manner, and accompanied by such

21 information, in addition to the information re22 quired under subparagraph (B), as the Sec23 retary may require.
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1 ‘‘(B) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—Each ap2 plication submitted for a grant under this sec3 tion shall—

4 ‘‘(i) detail the methodology and re5 sults of the State market rates survey con6 ducted pursuant to paragraph (1)(A);

7 ‘‘(ii) describe the State’s plan to in8 crease payment rates from the initial base9 line determined under clause (i); and

10 ‘‘(iii) describe how the State will in11 crease payment rates in accordance with

12 the market survey findings.

13 ‘‘(3) CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY REQUIRE14 MENT.—The Secretary may make an annual pay15 ment under this section to an eligible State only if—

16 ‘‘(A) the Secretary determines that the

17 State has made progress, through the activities

18 assisted under this subchapter, in maintaining

19 increased payment rates; and

20 ‘‘(B) at least once every 2 years, the State

21 conducts an update of the survey described in

22 paragraph (1)(A).

23 ‘‘(4) REQUIREMENT OF MATCHING FUNDS.—

24 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to re25 ceive a grant under this section, the State shall
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1 agree to make available State contributions

2 from State sources toward the costs of the ac3 tivities to be carried out by a State pursuant to

4 subsection (d) in an amount that is not less

5 than 25 percent of such costs.

6 ‘‘(B) DETERMINATION OF STATE CON7 TRIBUTIONS.—State contributions shall be in

8 cash. Amounts provided by the Federal Govern9 ment may not be included in determining the

10 amount of such State contributions.

11 ‘‘(c) ALLOTMENTS TO ELIGIBLE STATES.—The

12 amount appropriated under section 658B(b) for a fiscal

13 year shall be allotted among the eligible States in the same

14 manner as amounts are allotted under section 658O(b).

15 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—

16 ‘‘(1) PRIORITY USE.—An eligible State that re17 ceives a grant under this section shall use the funds

18 received to significantly increase the payment rate

19 for the provision of child care assistance in accord20 ance with this subchapter up to the 100th percentile

21 of the market rate survey described in subsection

22 (b)(1)(A).

23 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL USES.—An eligible State that

24 demonstrates to the Secretary that the State has

25 achieved a payment rate of the 100th percentile of
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1 the market rate survey described in subsection

2 (b)(1)(A) may use funds received under a grant

3 made under this section for any other activity that

4 the State demonstrates to the Secretary will enhance

5 the quality of child care services provided in the

6 State.

7 ‘‘(3) PAYMENT RATE.—In this section, the term

8 ‘payment rate’ means the rate of reimbursement to

9 providers for subsidized child care.

10 ‘‘(4) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Amounts

11 paid to a State under this section shall be used to

12 supplement and not supplant other Federal, State,

13 or local funds provided to the State under this sub14 chapter or any other provision of law.

15 ‘‘(e) EVALUATIONS AND REPORTS.—

16 ‘‘(1) STATE EVALUATIONS.—Each eligible State

17 shall submit to the Secretary, at such time and in

18 such form and manner as the Secretary may require,

19 information regarding the State’s efforts to increase

20 payment rates and the impact increased rates are

21 having on the quality of, and accessibility to, child

22 care in the State.

23 ‘‘(2) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary

24 shall submit biennial reports to Congress on the in25 formation described in paragraph (1). Such reports
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1 shall include data from the applications submitted

2 under subsection (b)(2) as a baseline for deter3 mining the progress of each eligible State in main4 taining increased payment rates.’’.

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